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Mothers and Daughters: Representations of Generational Difference and Conflict
in Chinese-American Filial Relationships in Wayne Wang’s Dim Sum and The Joy Luck Club
[Page 1]
Wayne Wang directed two films, Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart and The Joy Luck Club within a few years of each other in the mid to late 80s. Both films explore the relationship dynamics between Chinese immigrant women and their American-born daughters, and the conflicts that arise involving traditional expectations and modern sensibilities. These films showcase the opposing attitudes between generations as well as the loyalty to family that often subsumes such conflict. Dim Sum examines family relationships while dealing with the erosion of traditional values. Looking generally at Asian American film, there are a few emergent conventions and similarities. Luis Francia asserts in his essay “Asian Cinema and Asian American Cinema: Separated by a Common Language?” [In] Asian American films, questions of cultural and personal identity loom large…‘the primary impulse appears still to be a pedagogical one, coming to be instructive of Asian American life, rather than to be descriptive of it.’ Often the development of the theme is set against the conflicts that ensue when the traditions of two societies impinge upon an individual’s life. (104) In these two films, this is exactly the case. Each American-born daughter struggles with her duality, at once a loyal daughter, and simultaneously, an independent spirit. Renee Tajima recognizes another commonality in these films in her essay, “Moving the Image: Asian American Filmmaking 1970-1990.” She notes the specific conceptions and relations of gender in these productions. “For Asian American directors, gender divisions are not cut and dried. There are few directly feminist films by Asian American women, and some of the best films about women have been made by Asian American men. Male centrality is not the norm” (24). Wang is known for his democratic representation of the lives of Asian American women and his committed and continued focus on the family in his films. Ironically, in Chinese historical and cultural tradition, males have possessed far more value and standing; male children are always considered as superior. In American productions however, females are the integral centerpieces to every family and to every story. As a filmmaker, Wang’s own personal history largely inflects the stories he tells. His ability to explore freely the cultural values of both Taiwan and America stems from his rootlessness. Wang tells Film Comment in an interview, “Because of the complete avoidance of talking about China, and having grown up in a British Colony, and my parents being very pro-American, I grew up with no sense of identification with a country” (Allen 159). He continues, “My father would say, ‘In America the oranges are bigger.’ The dream, the myth was so powerful. I was already half-American even before I ever set foot here” (Levy 327). It is this nebulous national and cultural background that enables or prompts Wang to reconcile this confusion through his films that explore issues of identity, history and conflict between those born in China and those born in the United States that share the same heritage. The director was born in Hong Kong and educated at the California College of Arts and Crafts. Wang’s first name originated from his parents watching one of John Wayne’s films. He came to the US at eighteen and graduated with a Masters in Film and Television Studies in 1973 (Sakamoto 73). With this mixed and multi-dimensional heritage, Wang’s films reflect a rich, hybrid-like sensibility. He established himself in the 1980s with incisive portraits of Chinese-American life, with an emphasis on cross-cultural and generational issues. Emanuel Levy in Cinema of Outsiders: The Rise of American Independent Film refers to him as a “gentle satirist” (326).
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